>> eric: time now for "sunday housecall." joining us is dr. marc siegel, associate professor of medicine and author of unlocking the secret code of sickness and health. >> jamie: two-fer.

dr. david samadi is here, vice chairman of urology, from the mount sinai medical center. good morning. so good to see you today. hope you had a good holiday. let's get healthy. okay. >> welcome back. >> jamie: thank you. first we want to talk about the health concerns for former president george h.w. bush. he was hospitalized this week. he is 88 years old. they say it's from complications of bronchitis. she in stable condition at a houston hospital. getting great, great care. but a lot of people, not just the older americans suffered from respiratory illest in. what do we -- illness. what do we need to know? >> common disease but bronchitis is in two forms. acute form, storm-term after the flu and may take two or three weeks. a lot of times it's viral. we make a mistake as physicians to write the prescriptions. that is only good for bacterial, which is only 10% of the time. most of the time that will resolve on its own.

if it goes on for longer than three months to two years that is a chronic bronchitis. that is really formation of the tubing in the lungs, bronchial. you accumulate mucus. that can lead to the infection and on and on to pneumonia. the sooner you break this, the better it is. the president is 88 years old. so age is not working for him. immune system is down. parkinson's, the hair cilia we have to protect us and filter may not work. he is not as mobile. he has a great spirit, he is a fighter. this is a man jumping off the plane until the age of 80. believe me, bronchitis is not an issue. he has been there for a week but doctors are telling us it's a lingering cough. they will treat him with fluid and rest. and he will bounce back and we wish him the best.

>> jamie: mobility is an issue. how do you tell as a patient you should be up and around, if it's viral and the antibiotics won't help? >> first, being up and around is great idea if you're recovering from the respiratory illness. you get the lungs working. former president bush is inhibited by his parkinson's disease. 50% of the parkinson's patients are prone to not being able to handle their secretions as well and they can get bronchitis. on the other hand, this is indomnable spirit. shot down over the pacific, youngest navy flier. incredible human president bush is. if anyone will fight off the infection, it's him. they are keeping him over the weekend because the cough is persistent. the cough is a sign he is fighting this off. they want to be careful with him. viruses this time of year, you see the fall and winter viruses. the number one cause. low humidity, the viruses

travel up to ten feet. this is where the people get bronchitis from. it can be on surfaces called fomites. you get the second area is bacteria. you treat with the antibiotics. sometimes the tube stay inflamed. what this is, bronchitis, is the tubes to the lung, the big tubes, they are covered with hairs on the inside. they can get gunked up. they get inflamed. you sometimes have to use the steroids antiinflammatories to help you. >> jamie: so you can be treated. >> eric: prednisone for example. >> jamie: if you calf and you give it to viewers you are supposed to do that. but a lot of people don't. what do we do to protect from the rez spytory illest ins flying over the place? >> we recommend vaccination. one of the big things in the medical treatment. >> flu vaccine for sure. washing your hands. using those sanitizes, because you think this is coming from

your nose but it starts on your hands. you put it on your face and sneezing it out. >> they are trying to break the mucus. what we do in the hospital, chronic patients, we have people, pulmonary rehab where they do the pull mo noir to break the mucus and get it out. the most important message if you have chronic bronchitis, that is from smoking. smoking is number one, cigarette smoking. the best message from the segment is quit. february you quit today the effect of smoking stays many sooner you quit, the better it is. >> jamie: take that warning anytime. quit smoking. >> eric: if you talk for weeks talk to the doctor. what could be a major medical breakthrough in the fight against obesity. heard about this? there is a new test that could help parents determine their child is at risk. simple formula that takes in account a couple of things, the child's birth weight,

parents' body mass index, household size, mom's professional status and whether mom smoked in pregnancy. dr. seigel, how do you put this together to come up with decide if the child will be obese in 20 years? >> style this back. i am not here to tell people to club in the formula. this is what came out good out of this. this is british research with people from finland. they followed them from birth. they got involved in this to find genetic causes of obesity. it must be genetic. but they discovered environmental causes. the big headline is start from birth. when you parents or the parents to be and you are about to have a child. that is when you are open to education. that is when someone can call you up or bring you in and say look, your child is at 80% of obesity because they are in a

high-risk group. that is what this found. if you are in a high-risk group, you can become obese. nip it in the bud. by the time they are obese -- >> eric: you mentioned high risk group. what is a high risk group? >> i'm not through with all port of the formula but a high risk group if you born at heavy weight, your parents are a heavy height-weight, the body mass index. in a small household and not enough to go around. a low socioeconomic group and your mother can't afford expensive food. one thing for sure. if your parents are obese you are at risk to be obese. if you are born obese you're at risk. that i believe. education is key and earlier the better. >> how do you break the psycho? >> start with the personal

responsibility. the formula is reasonable because it's easy. none of these are magic. we use in this in my field of prostate cancer. it spits out a number but they are never accurate. the field of to baosty with children, it's on the rise. the are 70% of the population of children suffer from obesity. that formula can tell the parents your kid can be obese. i like it. simple formula for a lot of people out there. prevention. the sooner and we know obesity in children start at the age of five. prevention the way to go. education. tell the parents to get involved. look at your children's menu. what are they eating. stick with them and tell them this is not good for you and that is good for you. when you give them money, here is your snack food, whatever is it for the day. that is the wrong message, they will get the sugar, soda. >> eric: it's so hard to like go from the gummy bears to like nutritious bar. thatry not going to do that.

>> that is the point. >> the point is start early before -- >> personal responsibility is the way to go. you can do a portion control and spend time with them. the discipline is more important. it's cute. >> jamie: get the family involved and have them cook with you. eric is a big believer in the family dinner as well. do you suffer from chronic bad breath? you know who you are. don'tbe worry. doctors will offer simple tips how to keep your breath nice and fresh. that is good for all of us. also go to fox news.com/sundayhousecall. join the chat live. keep questions on pneumonia and bronchitis. if you have any other questions the doctor will answer them on air and after the show. look, if you have copd like me,

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♪ ♪ >> jamie: welcome back, right side, left side, i'm not sure, but doctors have warning of symptoms of appendicitis, condition that requires immediate medical attention. identifying the symptoms early are key to quick recovery. i forgot, which side? >> on the right side. four inchs, attached to your colon. we believe it no longer has a use. researchers from duke a few years ago had a theory maybe it makes good society, in societies not like ours you need that good bacteria reintroduced to your gut. so it may have a role. for me as internist, the thing is never miss diagnosis. patient loses the appetite, nauseous. they have pain. pain the cardinal symptom. they have diffuse pain and then go to right quadrant if a person calls me on the phone i say do a left leg. does it hurt your belly?

pain is key. young people and old people, 300,000 people every year hospitalized with appendicitis. you can sometimes diagnose it with a cat scan. but clinical diagnosis. i have a funny story to this before i throw it to david. one night in the middle of the night, i got a call. half asleep groggy and it sounded like appendicitis. it sent a patient to emergency room. next day, i came in and i coulded find the patient. i was worried. what happened to the patient? turned out they had it done overnight through lap ro scope and sent home already. that's because of the surgeons like dr. samadi doing things with incredible technology now that cuts down on hospitalization time. >> jamie: less invasive. >> i can tell you he will never run to be a president. when the phone call comes at 3:00 a.m., he is groggy. >> jamie: he answered it. >> that is good. i think this is when i was in general surgery, it was a clinical diagnosis as you mentioned, dr. seigel mentioned. you basically have to examine

the patient. it starts with a vague pain. may go to the right side. but these patients usually have rebound, they have guard. the minute you want to touch them, they guard themselves. there is a blood test we get for the white count but now days everybody gets a cat scan. we know it starts within minutes and hours and eric, the question is how do you know if it's per of rated -- prefeperforated. they get sick and they will have a fever over 10 to 1. this is an emergency. take them to operating room. we used to the a lot of these in open fashion make a small cut and remove the appendix. now everything is being done laparoscopicly, unless it's very complicated case, where you may have an abscess. >> eric: is it a sharp pain? do you know it when you get it? >> right lower quadrant. but we want to know is a diagnosis, not always appendix. in women you may have

pelvicken flamtory disease. ovarian cyst, which is important. in my field of urology, kidney stone, the right kidney stone travels on the right side presents the same as appendicitis. it's not cut and dry. work as a detective and put thoughts together and make a decision. >> jamie: it's great you mention other diagnosis because they could mimic. right away get to the doctor. >> inflammatory bowel disease as well. >> eric: if you get a pain, dal doctor. this morning, talking about that subject with americans dealing with chronic respiratory illnesses. but there are some early and easily treated diagnosis to help deal with this. the doctors talk about hit the morning. president george h.w. bush treated this weekend. we will back in a morning with more signs to look out for. lan? then you may be looking for help in choosing the right plan for your needs. so don't wait. call now.

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♪ >> jamie: back with "sunday housecall." we talked about respiratory issues all morning and a new report shows 15 million americans suffer from copd. some doctors say there may be a way to diagnose it earlier and treat it better. dr. samadi, copd. seems kind of widespread. >> it is chronic, so

long-term, obstructive pul pulmonary disease. this covers bronchitis and emphysema. bronchitis is inflammation of the tube. but the tube -- [ inaudible ] so it's where the oxygen and co2 get exchanged. what happens over time is as result of smoking again all the structures will be damaged. the oxygen will not be exchanged. what happens when you don't get enough oxygen, you get tired and fatigued a short of the breath. you can't do your exercises and then comes to heart disease. the heart understands it's not getting enough oxygen, has to pump more. the blood pressure goes up, on and on and the cycle. the good doctors would get these indexes x-ra -- chest x-ry and then they diagnose them with copd. the key is to break the cycle quickly. whether it's the nebulizers or

the broncho-die late tortoise expand the lungs or get rid of the mucus we talk about or oxygen therapy. ultimately, if it becomes and goes further, that is the one. pneumonia is what everyone is afraid of. because the bacteria gets in the lungs and he has to go to work. doesn't like the wake up in the morning. >> jamie: dr. siegel is on it. a love fiesta bowl here with thfest here with thedoctors. the question. my move had copd with afib. chronic cough. doctors say it isn't a cold. want her thor use mucinex, humidifier and keep filters clean. what suggestion do you have? >> i think cat scans work well on this, pulmonary. they have the small air sacks

that the air is exchanged and they start to get damaged and expand. they lose the flexibility. we treat them with the broncho-diolators and we treat them with steroids. but the big thing is stop smoking. in what thing we do on the air, get people to stop smoking, no matter what you do to stop smoking you to watch it. silent killer. number three killer in the united states. smokers are worried about lung cancer. they need to worry about this. >> jamie: you know what else smokers have? bad breath. >> eric: if you have it, the doctors will tell us in a moment how to get rid of it. bad breath. some tips. >> yuck! >> eric: straight ahead. i have a cold... i took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] dayquil doesn't treat that. huh? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus rushes relief to all your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose.

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>> jamie: it is a lot of people. estimated 340 million americans suffer from bad breath. here is what you do about it. halitosis. even the name direct examination siegel. >> stop the onion and garlic, brush your teeth twice a day, use floss, stop smoking. if you still have a problem, look for medical causes like kidney disease, ulcers. i have to watch out for diabetes. i'll be looking medical, but brush your teeth out there. >> it's basically as a result of the bacteria that becomesflak and becomes gingivit